“Boxing to me was the exercise that showed me how strong I could be as a woman,” Lima says. “It is very empowering. I like challenges. Every day you learn something new. With boxing, you’re always stepping up.”

The practice also tests the Brazilian model's mental strength.

“[The exercise] helps me with my mind, because you come here and have to focus completely on the combination of punches so you don’t think about something else," she says. "It’s kind of my meditation.”

Her routine:

“In the morning I take my kids to school, and then I go to the gym,” says the mother of two.

The six day a week, 90-minute workouts vary, but a typical warm-up consists of ten to fifteen straight minutes of jumping rope, for cardio. That will be followed by intense shadow boxing for ten minutes, and then onto focused mitt work for 30 to 40 minutes.

“We’ll also do a lot muscle conditioning exercises, where I use my hands to resist her movements — I call it hand crafting. That will tone her core and legs,” says trainer Olajide. “Using bodyweight resistance and the body’s natural range of motion, it’s almost like you’re getting the benefits of weights without using weights,” he says.

“Then we get in the ring and catch punches,”says Olajide. “She does all the things you’d expect from a boxer.”

What she eats to fuel her fists

“It’s such an intense workout, and food is energy,” says Lima, who adds that she eats six times a day, small meals of veggies, protein, and some carbs.

For breakfast, she’ll have egg whites or oatmeal. For a mid-morning snack, she’ll opt for raw vegetables. Lunch tends to be quinoa with vegetables and protein — fish or chicken, usually, never red meat. An afternoon snack might include fruit or nuts. Dinner follows in the same vein as lunch with another veggie/carb/protein meal.

“If I’m traveling, have a photo shoot and don’t have time to go to the gym, I go running,” she says. “Every boxer has to run — on the treadmill, outside. I can do four miles. It is not my favorite thing to do, I have to say, but I get in done.”

Her favorite pump-up jam

“My song right now is ‘Till I Collapse,’ by Eminem," she says. "The lyrics and everything. I love that song, it’s super empowering to me."